In part two of our series we now turn to a early 20th century book that chronicles the color, religious behavior and quotes of the Jews themselves. Accompanied by other historic citations of early historians.
Below is an excerpt of the book. In them you will see conversions, proselytizing, defining factors of a Jew being circumcision, and even accounts of Jews themselves who were not certain of the "purity" of their genealogy. All of these facts chronicle the reality that the Jews/Hebrews/Israelites were never a race.
"The Jews: a study of race and environment" by Fishberg, Maurice, 1872-1934:
"Legation at Addis-Ababa, has made a study of the different races of Abyssinia, and says that the Falashas have all the physical characters of the indigenous population to such a degree that they may be mistaken for them. The latest description of these Jews is from the pen
of H. Nahoum, another representative of the Alliance Israelite. He believes that they were CONVERTED to Mosaism by a group of Judaizers who came from Egypt
around the second or third century B.C., probably during the epoch of Ptolemy Euergetes, and gives good reason.'"
"for this opinion. In former times their number was quite large, but since the wars between the Christians and
Mussulmans of the sixteenth century the severe persecutions, as well as forced conversions, have reduced their
number, and at present there are from seven to eight thousand of them."
This next piece in the book is about converts and marriage in Judaism. The word used in the old and new testament for convert is "PROSELYTE". Intermarriage is another reality that history plainly reveals about the acts of the jews throughout various places.
"PROSELYTISM AND INTERMARRIAGE."
"[Judaism]was religious, not racial," says Joseph Jacobs. Modern archaeological research has, however, shown that ethnic
conditions were not as simple as Jacobs would lead us to believe. It appears that the diversity of physical type of
mankind in Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, etc., was at least as great as that seen to-day in Europe. And
judging by the small extent of the region under consideration and the small number of inhabitants, racial mixtures
should leave a profound impression on the type of the Hebrews. One has only to recall that there were the tall, blonde and dolichocephalic Amorites, the negroid Cushites, the Hittites, who are held by some to have been a Mongoloid race, and an Armenoid race by others, but at all
events not of the type considered Semitic, etc. That intermarriages with all these should not have left any impression on the Jewish physical type can not even be imagined.
The greatest mixtures of which there are any historical records have taken place during the Greco-Roman period of the Jews, Notwithstanding the fact that Judaism is such an exclusive religion, and thought always to discourage proselytism, still during that period it made many converts. Everything points to an intense activity in spreading Judaism among the pagans. " Modern re-
searches have shown positively that Judaism has sent forth apostles," say E. G. Hirsch. That they have succeeded is shown by the fact that many important
personages were gained, as, for instance, the Royal family of Adiabene, a province on the banks of the Tigris, Another instance was Flavius Clemens and his wife Flavia Domitilla; he was a cousin of the Emperor Domitian, a member of the Senate and Consul, and his wife was also
a near relative of the Emperor. Another important proselyte was Fulvia, the wife of a highly respected senator. This last proselyte gave the Jews considerable
trouble ; the Senate promulgated a law that the Jews must leave Rome. During the last ten years which Feldman says that in the time of Ezra " Intermarriages between Jew and alien went on a scale sufficiently large to silence forever the
claim of racial puiily for the Jew ."
"Jnoish Eniychpadia, article " Proselytes," vol. x., p. 22a. » H. GraelE, HisUry efthejfuii, voL iL, pp. 136-137.
---preceded the destruction of the Judean State," says Graetz, "there were more proselytes than there had been at any other time. Philo relates from his own experience that in his native country many heathens, when they embraced Judaism, not only changed their faith but their lives, which were henceforth conspicuous by the practice of the virtues of moderation, gentleness, and humanity."
It appears that the Jews g'ained more women to their creed than men. Perhaps the fact that women had not to undergo circumcision made it easier for them to enter, while men might have been kept away for just this reason.
In Damascus the greater part of the women were converted to Judaism, and In Asia Minor there were also many female proselytes, according to Graetz. In Palestine, too, there must have been many proselytes, and they must have had an important social position, otherwise the Tannalm would have no reason to discuss their status and the conditions of their reception. One Judah ben Ezelciel, fearing lest his son might marry a woman who is not of pure seed of Abraham, kept on delaying his marriage long after he reached maturity. Upon this his friend Ulla pertinently remarked: "How do we know for certain that we ourselves are not descended from the heathens
who violated the maidens of Zion at the siege of Jerusalem?"'
There were two kinds of converts at that time, complete converts and "half converts," The latter class consisted of men and women of non- Jewish birth, who, forsaking their ancestral pagan and polytheistic religions, embraced monotheism and adopted the fundamental principles of Jewish morality, without, however, submitting to circumcision or observing other ceremonial laws. Their number was very large during the centuries immediately preceding and following the fall of Jerusalem. Complete converts were those who also submitted to circumcision. It appears that the Rabbis were not unanimous as to the standing of each of these classes of proselytes In the Jewish community. Some insisted that
the half converts are not to be considered Jews at all,
' H. Graew, History of the Jews, vol. ii., p. 215. '^ Ibid., p. SSI. ' Adicle
"Proselytes,"/"""^ Eiuyclap-edia, vc\. x., p. 211. db,1
PROSELYTISM AND INTERMARRIAGE.
while others were more lenient, and were ready to accord them full equality with the Jews as soon as they had solemnly forsworn idolatry. The "via media" was taken,* and they had to be regarded by the Jews as brothers, although later, during the third century when Christianity had grown, conditions changed, and half converts were again looked at with suspicion. Theodore Reinach, one of the best authorities on the history of the Jews, says about these conversions: "The fervour of proselytism was indeed one of the most distinctive traits of Judaism during the Greco-Roman epoch — a trait which it never possessed in the same degree either before or since." He enumerates various methods which were employed to increase the flock of Irsael. " The most brutal was that of forced conversion — that is to say, circumcision — such as had been imposed by John Hyrcanus on the idumeans and by Aristobulus upon a portion of the Uureans (Galileans), Next was the conversion of slaves owned by Jews as their individual property. But it was especially the moral propaganda, by word, example and book which was the most productive of success throughout the whole extent of the Diaspora."
Reinach points out that Judaism possessed prudence and tact in dealing with the proselytes. It did not exact
the complete adoption of the Law immediately. The neophyte was simply a "friend" to the Jewish customs and observed only some of the laws. His sons frequented the synagogues and deserted the temples, and contributed their oboli to the treasury of Jerusalem. At last the
proselyte took the decisive step : he received the rite of circumcision and the bath of purity. In the third generation, according to Deuteronomy, xxii. 8, there
existed no distinction between Jew by race and Jew by adoption,^ unless the latter belonged to the accursed races. ^
" It cannot be doubted that Judaism in this way made numerous converts during two or three centuries. . . .
' E. G. Hirsch, Ibid., p. aaa.
* According lo the Talmud proselytes held an inferior position in the Jewish community {Kiddiishin, 4, l). They were, however, admitted to intermarriage with all social grades below the highest^i'.^., the priests. Most Hebrews were not better situated Uf. Sanhedrin, 4. z).
^ These accursed races were the Canaanites — i.e., Semites, who could
not a}ier the Jewish physical type, according to Jacobs.
PROSELYTISM AND INTERMARRIAGE.
indisputable fact that proselytes were found in the Tibers in every country of the diaspora. The pagan authors, struck by this phenomenon, carefully distinguish the Jews by race from Jews by adoption.
[So we can see here that other nations were the first to attempt to classify the Jews by race and adoption. Not the jews themselves]
In Antloch a large portion of the Greek population was Judaized in the time of Josephus ; and although they turned Christians in the days of Chrysostom, they had not forgotten the way to the synagogues. The same holds
true of certain districts of Spain. In Damascus ' almost all the women ' observed the Jewish usages. Paul met
with proselytes in Antioch of Pisidia, in Thyatira, in Thessalonica, and in Athens. In Rome, where the Jewish propaganda had taken the first step at the time
of the embassy of Numenius {139 b.c), its efforts and success are indicated by Horace, Persius, and Juvenal." "The enormous growth of the Jewish nation in Egypt, Cyprus, and Cyrene," says M. Reinach, "cannot be accounted for without supposing an abundant infusion of Gentile blood. Proselytism swayed alike the upper and the lower classes of society. The great number of Jews
passing through the state of slavery must, of course, have catechized their comrades rather than their masters." It
is true that the State, and later the Jews themselves, discouraged proselytism, and under Domitian, Nerva, and
others, placed heavy penalties for converting Gentiles to Judaism. It is also true that the evangelical preachers
met with ready ears among the half proselytes, and that it was among them that Christianity made its first and its
most numerous conquests.^ But to say that this removed all the foreign blood from Judaism, and left the flock of
Israel in its original purity, is absurd.
With the spread of Christianity in Europe the Church did its best to discourage intermarriage between Jews and
Christians. That it was not always successful is attested by the fact that it was often necessary to repeat the edicts
at various Church Councils. Andree enumerates the following edicts of the Church directed against intermarriages — The first prohibition was enacted by the
Eastern Church at the Council of Chalcedon in 388.
In the West the third Concilium Aurelianese issued the
following prohibition: — "Christianis guoque omnibus inter- dicitnus ne judaorum. conjtigiis misceantur : quod si fecerint,
' For further iiiformalion on this subject see Th. Reinach, article,
"Judfei," in DidUnnaire des Antiquitis ; also, article, "Diaspora,"
liwish Encyclopedia, vol. iv. pp. 569-571 ; E. Renan, I.e Juddisme lamme
race et cemme rclipon ; Paris, 1 883.
" R. Andree, Ziir Va/iskunde der /uden, p. 48 ; Leipzig, l88i.
usque ad sequeitralionem, quisquis tile est, contmunione pellatur." At the Council of Toledo, held in 589, the clergy was admonished " ul Judmis non liceat Christianas habere uxores." The Council of Rome, held in 743, ordained "ji quis Christiaiius filiarn suant JudcEO in
conjugio copulare prasumserit — anathema sit."
Many other prohibitions of this sort were issued both by the Church and State in various parts of Europe. In Hungary, for instance, according to Garetz, the jews
lived in friendly relations with their German brethren. Mixed marriages between Jews and Christians also
occurred frequently, as the Church had not yet established itself in the country. King Ladislaus prohibited such marriages in 1092. But that his prohibition did not
bring the desired result is seen from the fact that the Archbishop Robert von Gran complained in 1229 to the Pope that many Jews in Hungary are married to Christian women, and that the latter are often converted to Judaism ; that Christian parents are selling theirchildren to Jews, and some, out of greed for money, permit themselves to be
circumcised, and that within a few years many thousands of Christians were lost to the Church.
Another focus of intermarriage of immense significance in relation to the ethnic type of the Jews was in Southern
Europe, especially in Spain, Portugal, and Gaul. In Gaul, during the sixth century, Graetz says that the jews lived on the best of terms with the people of the country, and intermarriages occurred between Jews and Christians, and in Spain " intermarriages between Jews and Christians occurred quite as frequently as in Gaul." King Reccared in 589 was the first to prohibit these marriages, and to
order that children born to such mixed couples should be forcibly baptized.' That slaves were converted to Judaism
is shown by the same edict which ordained that slaves initiated into Judaism, and especially circumcised, should be forfeited to the State. That the desired effect was not achieved in this case as well as in others is shown by the
fact that mixed marriages continued to take place. Thus, in the thirteenth century, according to Graetz, " among the Jews In Southern Spain the lukewarmness towards the law went so far that not a few contracted marriages with Christian and Mohammedan women,"' and it is
also stated that Rabbi Moses of Coucy, a kind of Jewish revivalist, in the thirteenth century "succeeded in influencing those who had contracted mixed marriages
with Christian and Mohammedan women to divorce, themselves from their strange wives."- It seems that plixed marriages kept on occurrinjj, because, in King
llfonso's code, we meet again au interdiction of such , as well as against conversions of Christians to Judaism.
A large proportion of the blondes encountered among the Jews of to-day may have been acquired into the fold of
Judaism in the following manner, which is but one of many instances which can be quoted from the history of the
Jews: "The Jews of Germany are to be regarded as colonies of the Prankish Jews," says Graetz, "and such "l them as lived in Austrasia, a province subject to the ' H, Gmeti, IW., p. 527. ' I61J,, p. 546.
“One occasionally meets with a Jew whose skin is very dark, the hair black and woolly, the head long with a prominent occiput. The face is prognathous, the two jaws are projecting in the form of a muzzle. The lips are large, thick, and upturned, and the nose flat, broad, and the wings upturned so that the nostrils can be seen in profile. This negroid type can be singled out in any large assembly of Jews. They are often mistaken for mulattoes, and the author knows of one who had considerable difficulty to get along in one of the southern states of America. As with all the other types of Jews, some Biblical scholars are inclined to attribute the origin of the negroid Jews to intermarriage with the Cushites of Biblical times. It is indeed remarkable that this type is met with among Jews who have not come in contact with negroes for centuries, as for instance the Jews of Eastern Europe.”
The following chapter is most eye opening.
CHAPTER XXII.
Assimilation versus Zionism ....
Tendencies among the modem Jews — George Btandes' view on his relation to Judaism— Causes oF the revival of the
Jewish Nationalists' movement — The Zionist's programme—Zionism and assimilation — The Zionist's
assumption of a distinct Jewish nationality — Attempts lo avert disintegration of Judaism — Are the Jews a nation?— The Jews were a nation before Iheir emancipation in Europe — Judaism and the laws of Christian
states kept them apart from their neighbours— Assimilation of the Western Jews— Causes of denationaliialion
of modern Jews — Religion and nationality — Language and nationality — There is no national Jewish vernacular
— Adoption of culture ond civiliiaiion of the countries in which they live — The failure of the Nationalists in their efforts to revive the Jewish national spirit — What is Jewish art? — Is there a Jewish literature ?— Absence of a specific Jewish spirit in painting, sculpture, music,
and architecture— 'There is no Jewish follc-lore, folk- tales, folk -medicine, etc. — 'Professor Lazarus on Jewish nationalism — Why Palestine is
inadequate to shelter all the Jews— Christendom would not cherish developing Palestine industrially and commercially — Repatriation offers no solution of the Jewish problem —
Zionism has not attracted the cultured Jews— Objections to an autonomous territory — The two tendencies among
the modem Jews.
CHAPTER XXHI.
Recapitulation and Conclusions
Religious pride of the jews— The Semite and the Aryan— Influence of the environment on racial characters — The difference between the social and the anthropological type of the Jew — Anthropologically the Jews are not a race — There IS no Jewish type;
And there you have it. According to the author Maurice fishburg the Jews are not a race. I hope this blog piece has been insightful to you the reader. We will continue our next blog piece on another book that Black Hebrew Israelites also love to use. I encourage you if you have not to read part 1 of this series here.
Full book here
https://archive.org/details/jewsastudyracea00fishgoog/page/n28
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